had no Internet last night. also had no hotel last night. good story coming after we have dinner. last good riding day from Durango to Vernal. check back later
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ok, I’ve finally got some time to tell the right tale about the adventures of Day 7, the last of our good riding days. The previous night in Durango was quite nice. We had a good dinner at The Ore House restaurant and had a good night’s rest at the Durango Lodge.
We were up bright and early and riding by 6:30am. A hundred miles later we rolled into Ouray and stopped for breakfast at the Silver Nugget. Both Durango and Ouray are very interesting little towns. I wish we had allowed more time to explore them, maybe next year we can allow for a half day in each to walk around and take in the local fare. Rt 550 was a really, really nice way to start the morning. Really cool rock tunnels, nice grades going up and over Red Mountain Pass and the highest elevation of the trip at 11,000ft. There were some very twisty turns and beautiful views of the mountains tagged the American Swiss Alps.
Leaving Ouray, we headed northwest towards Ridgeway, cut across 62 to Placerville then northwest again on 145 towards Naturita. From there we went north on 141 which is a great ride. Lots of fast sweepers, beautiful red canyon scenery and little to no traffic otherwise. Of course, with our luck we hit a line painting truck in the middle of freakin’ nowhere and being “in the rhythm of the ride” I couldn’t wait for an opening and decided to pass. Note to self, fresh yellow paint will stick to your bike and leave long trails behind you when you ride through a double yellow line just laid down.
We stopped at a dessert oasis in Gateway, got hydrated, ate some protein and continued on to Whitewater and Grand Junction in search of the local BMW dealer. At this point the good riding has ended. We rode through downtown traffic to a wrong GPS location for the dealer. Called him, got hand directed to the shop where Bong’s clutch was bled again. An hour later we were riding again through crappy roads, traffic, construction, no scenery and straight line boring heat. There were a few twisties going through a pass on 139, but mostly it was straight, hot and boring.
We were supposed to end up in Diamondville, but by 6pm we were exhausted and 150 miles short of the plan stopping in Vernal, UT. Who knew Vernal was also known as Dinosaur Land? This area is filled with ancient fossils, has a huge dino museum and one of the biggest oil companies in the world – Halliburton – basically owns the town. Every room in every hotel was completely booked out by the oil workers. Not only were all hotels in Vernal completely booked, but every hotel in 30 miles were booked and there were no guarantees of any availability beyond that. We were not happy and planning looking for benches to crash on when comes out of a restaurant next to the hotel and exclaims “we’re set for lodging for the night!” Apparently the restaurant owner rents out rooms in her house and Bong had convinced her we were a desperate group of riders and would settle for any place for the night. Our expectations we set low, expecting a flop house on a dirt lot which would have been fine considering how spent we were. Much to our delight we pulled into a very new, upscale neighborhood of beautiful homes. We pulled into the driveway, met the owner’s friend and son and unpacked our gear. The son Tyler, who I think was 10, was completely enthralled with our bikes and her friend wanted to go for a ride. After riding all day that was the last thing any of us wanted to do. We were tired and hungry and didn’t want to ride back into town to eat and started talking about getting pizza delivered. But since our hostess owns a restaurant she offered to bring us back meals from there. How much better is this going to get?! So to make it easy for her we ordered seven steaks. And a philly cheese for me. 45 minutes later she returns with huge tray of food and a twelve pack of beer. Holy Cow! This hardship has turned in the best lodging of the trip. Beautiful well appointed home, delicious dinner personally delivered, and really good night’s sleep. Too bad we were back on the road again at 6:20am then next morning.
Huge thanks and bottomless gratitudes to Carry (or Kari?) from Twiliger’s Restaurant in Vernal, UT for her incredible hospitality towards us haggard two wheeled travelers. If you’re ever in Vernal, please be sure to stop into Twiligers for a bite and say hi to Carry the owner.
today’s track – 387 miles
